From the Darkness
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: Enchanted Forest AU inspired by Pentamerone's version of Sleeping Beauty. Killian Jones has his way with a young woman while she sleeps, and returns to her a year later to find that she's no longer asleep or alone but has borne him twins... Can something possibly become of these twists in fate? *four-shot, Sleeping Hook-centric with Aurora/Phillip and mentions of Hook/Milah*
1. Chapter 1

**Well, I attempted Sleeping Hook. It didn't work out the way I wanted it to, not even from the start - this four-shot was conceived as a drabble - but I tried, so you guys feel free to go ahead and take a shot at reading it. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Flax._ Aurora has only time to incredulously think that one thing, A splinter of flax has gotten stuck in her finger, and because of this she is doomed to sleep for a hundred years.

Ah, but her comes her father, barely recognizable as the darkness closes in on her vision. Surely he will help her…

* * *

But King Stefan finds that he cannot, and feeling brokenly helpless, he can bear to do no more than prop his beloved, sleeping daughter up in his throne and flee forever.

* * *

_Ninety-nine years later_

The castle is dilapidated from the outside, yes, but it's shelter from the storm outside – the one preventing him from leaving port until the morning – and so Killian will take it.

In this situation, he doesn't expect to find decent food or a bed that isn't rotting. But he does. It makes him curious, and so he goes exploring, eventually deciding that there must be an enchantment upon this place as he wonders what else he'll find.

He's ready for anything, yet he can't say he expects to find a beautiful, sleeping young woman sitting in the throne room. But find her he does.

And it's worth mentioning at this point that he's slightly – very well, _incredibly _– drunk from the liquid courage he's consumed in this creepy house that's outwardly falling apart but pristine on the inside. And he's a man… and she's a beautiful woman. So he does something he'll probably regret in the morning, and when morning comes, he drags his hung-over self onto his ship and sails away from the odd experience.

* * *

_Ten months later_

Consciousness, cold and uncomfortable, meets the two squirming red bodies in an unwelcome embrace, and they scream their objections. This isn't right, it's not at all like the cozy cavern in their mother's body to which they are accustomed, and even now a new sensation is clenching their stomachs. Hunger – and for the sating of this feeling, they instinctively turn to their mother.

One of the twins, the girl, gets lucky. Eyes closed as she squirms, mouth floundering for _something_, she stumbles upon her mother's finger – and begins to suck. But this isn't right either – it isn't working, her hunger isn't waning.

And then it gets worse! Suddenly, it _hurts_! There's something inside of her mouth that she doesn't like; it doesn't belong there, and she screams again – thoroughly drowning out the noises made by her suddenly stirring mother.

* * *

Consciousness. Bright and strange and surprisingly _loud _– it comes back to Aurora in a slow trickle as she awakes. First, she sees, turns her head slowly, looking around at eyelevel. Then she _hears_. Then she _really _sees – and then she panics. She panics because there is a baby boy wriggling helplessly on the floor at the foot of the throne in which she's seated, and there's _another _one, a girl, half in her lap, half ready to fall onto the floor as well. Her first instinct is to scramble away from the two of them, and she belatedly realizes that her body's already trying that all on its own, But then the infant girl teeters dangerously, and Aurora finds her hands snapping out to rescue the child from her perilous position and pull her to her chest.

The baby's head lands just above Aurora's heartbeat and they both calm for a minute, giving the princess time to think. She reaches down and scoops the fallen baby boy up with her free arm, checks to make sure that they are unharmed, and stares down at them before she notices something else that's horribly startling. The three of them are covered in blood.

But why? Yes, her own body is in agony, but wouldn't it be, after a hundred years in the same position? And how does that explain the infants?

And then she realizes, begins to piece together in her still-waking mind what must have happened. She's given birth. At the tail end of her dreadful sleeping curse, after who knew who had come into her castle and done who knew what – gods, what they'd had to have done _to her _– she's _given birth to twins_!

Panic is at the edges of her mind again as the truth starts to sink in. And then comes a strange, warm feeling that she wasn't expecting. She's just birthed these children, these are her twins, she is their mother, and – strange as the truth is – she loves them already.

* * *

_Eight months later_

It's been a year and a half since Killian's been in this kingdom or thought of that anything-but-forgettable princess – for that's what he's come to decide she must be – but he's back and so are the thoughts of her. He feels at best curious and at worst compelled by something-that-might-be-regret – but that would mean that he cares, and he doesn't right? – to return to that castle.

He wants to know what he'll find there now. Will the place have fallen apart at the seams, as the exterior already suggests it has? Will the princess have awakened? Died, maybe? He doesn't know, but he wants to, so he goes. He slips away from his rowdy, drunken crew, leaving them and the pub for the night in favor of satisfying his curiosity – because that's all that it is. Mere curiosity, and maybe a hint of desire – of course a bloody pirate could admit to that – but nothing else.

Yet, when he gets there, what he finds is once again nothing like what he expects. When he pushes open the palace door, the previously dark, damp hall is alive with light, laughter, and… shrieking? All of it is pouring from the sitting room off the hallway, and Killian is drawn to it like a sailor to a siren – which is the perfect analogy, he muses, creeping forward on silent feet.

This place has come alive in his absence, he decides, and what's more, he realizes, peering through the crack between the door and doorjamb, into the sitting room… so has the princess. Because there she is, sitting on the floor in front of the fire, wearing the world's biggest, most beautiful smile as she looks down at… two babies?

At the sight of them – obviously twins, with their identical age and black hair – Killian's mind is instantly moving, putting numbers and sequences and possibilities – ye gods, the _possibilities _– together quicker than he'd known he was capable of. And then he came to the inevitable conclusion.


	2. Chapter 2

"Bloody h***!"

The words are wrong in this place, harsh in the presence of the innocent scene on the other side of the door, and the only reason he even realizes he's said them aloud is because the princess suddenly scoops both her children expertly into her arms at once and springs to her feet, facing the door with wide eyes as she demands, "Who's there? Show yourself. Now!"

Picking up on their mother's fear, the little ones begin to fuss as Killian pushes the door open, trying his best to appear nonthreatening as he steps into the room,

"Who are you?" she asks sharply, her voice trembling and eyes blowing even wider as she catches sight of his hook and sheathed sword.

For some reason, he gives her his Christian name, not his better known one. Hook is a pirate, pirates are frightening, and if she hasn't already figured out from his dress what he is, the last thing he wants to do is scare her even more. So he says only, "Killian Jones." He even considers tacking on "navy lieutenant" because people are more likely to trust military men, decides she could tell better than that at a glance, and shuts his mouth – making room for her next question.

"What do you want?"

She's trying so hard to be – to at least _look _– brave, but they both know that she's terrified for herself and her children, unarmed, and – if he wanted it so – completely at his mercy. What Killian feels now is definitely closer to regret; it's self-loathing.

The second question he takes a beat to answer – some of the possible responses now make his stomach begin to church – before he decides upon, "To check in on you."

Her eyes widen again with surprise, and then narrow with terrible, terrible suspicion that tells him she's just figured everything out as she hisses, "How did you know I was here?"

His hand comes up to scratch guiltily at the back of his neck – ye gods, he's not used to feeling bad about his liaisons, but then, they've never been left unaware of what he's done to them before, either – and looks away from her as he admits shamefacedly, "I was, uh, shore-bound by a storm here eighteen months ago, and I stumbled on this place."

"And me?" she bites out shakily, the question that she's actually asking disguised by the one that she asks.

And Killian nods, still not looking at her – at the picture she makes holding the children he had part in giving life to.

Then the words fly from her mouth and across the room, furious and sharper than any weapon she could've raised. "Get out."

And for reasons Killian can't even begin to explain, his world shatters.

But her hands are full with her children – _their _children – and she cannot physically remove him, so he opens his mouth to try and explain somehow. Her vocal chords get in gear before his do, though, and she begins to scream at him. She steps closer to him and he instinctively backs away from her sudden fury, but she keeps coming. She's spewing accusations and obscenities alike – almost all of them true – as she backs him out of the room, down the hall, and onto the castle stoop. The door is slammed in his face before he even realizes what's happening.

He hears her on the other side of the door, gently quieting the screaming babes that share his blood, and that's when he decides he'll never again underestimate her. But he's determined now – to prove himself to this woman and to get to be a part of the lives of his children – and she would do well not to underestimate him either.

He spends two nights and a day just resolutely sitting on the steps of her castle – only after trying and failing to find another useable entrance inside, that is – before he returns to his men… if only for a little while.

He's halfway to town when he realizes that he doesn't know even one of their names.

* * *

Aurora was terrified when that man – that _pirate_, Killian Jones – walked into her sitting room and after that, it just kept getting worse. The revelation that he's her babies' father, the way he'd tried to get back into her house after she'd made it very clear she didn't want him there, and when he couldn't find a way back in, he'd just stayed on her front steps. She hasn't slept a wink since he first showed up – she's spent the whole time watching him covertly from the windows instead – but now he's finally walking away towards town and she can breathe again.

She hasn't allowed herself to ever really concentrate on the heinous act done to her that gave her the twins, but after meeting him like she had, she can't really help what she's thinking – the disgust coursing through her at both him and, in a way… herself. The twins are asleep in the next room for the moment, and now that she feels she can, Aurora doesn't just breathe; she breaks down into bitter sobs.

* * *

_Three weeks later_

Killian's crew had been – to put it lightly – baffled when he had shown back up in town, gotten pass-out-for-twenty-four-hours drunk, and proceeded to tell them that they could bloody well take his ship and get on with their lives because he was staying here. It had taken two more days to convince them that he meant it – Smee had left still not believing him – but eventually they had left… and left Killian behind

Which is what he wants, Killian reminds himself sternly. In the past weeks, he's taken to doing the odd job around town – life on the sea can impart a surprising number of skills to a man – making just enough money to get by and afford a room above the alehouse where he spent his free time. The idea that he has is that the princess _must _come to town regularly for a few things, right? It seems like a solid plan – that maybe once they're on mutual territory, she'll be more willing to listen to what he has to say – but after three weeks, he's starting to lose confidence in his plan.

Not that he's willing to give up on them yet. On the contrary, there has been many a time when rejection from a woman had only served to fuel his fire.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this one is a little shorter, but the chapter divisions weren't really working very well for me between this chapter and the next. Hopefully you enjoy it as is!**

* * *

She's been putting off her monthly trip into town for a week nowhere near willing to chance running into _him_, but Aurora's decided that they're running out of too many things here and the needs of her children must always come first. So she gathers her kids, her cloak, and her courage, and she goes.

At first all is well; she gets most of her stops completed until she has only the mill left to go to, and she's starting to relax.

Then it happens.

For whatever reason, he's coming out of the mill with a huge sack of flour on his shoulders and heading for the mill. He sees her in the same exact moment she sees him, and she panics. When she starts to run, the difference is that she has a pack mule that she has to keep with her – she's long figured out how to strap the twins to the mule in cradleboards of sorts, and most days she's extremely grateful for how convenient that is, though today isn't one of those days. He, on the other hand, just has to drop his sack of flour wherever he stands, which he does, quick to give chase.

She tries to be smart and duck between two buildings, but he's smarter and takes this an opportunity to stop her however he has to without the fear of other people being around to make a scene. He runs until he can grab one of the cradleboards where they're both dangling off of the stupid mule, bouncing helplessly along as Aurora's attempts at leaving him behind fail miserably. He jerks – hard – on the wooden device, and the mule nearly _sits down_ on his godforsaken hindquarters. Under different circumstances, she might've laughed, but now all she wants to do is kick the animal, and all that she _actually_ manages to do is fall on her back in the dust, surprised in her own right by the sharp tug given to her lead rope. She scrambles backwards on her hands and feet, nearly crab crawling as she tries to get away from him, but in two long strides, he has her trapped, her back against a building's wall, eyelevel with his kneecaps.

She has the unusual urge to bite his leg, just to see what happens, in the moment before she looks up, trembling despite her best efforts not to as she meets his eyes.

He sighs, and she realizes that he's now holding the mule's lead rope – _her babies_! – as he crouches down in front of her and asks, "Can you just _listen _to me for a minute."

This time she can't help herself. She spits in his face – and realizes a split second _after the fact _just what she's done. She expects him to slap her or worse for it, and it takes a moment for her to realize that isn't happening. Instead, he's staring at the ground, obviously keeping his tongue and his temper in check as he swipes his sleeve across his face.

The first words out of his mouth leave her momentarily speechless: "I suppose I deserve that."

And then she makes it worse by telling him the truth. "Yes, you do – and worse!"

He considers this, eyebrows raising before he says, "Agreed… however, keeping a man's children from him is a pretty low blow."

Her mouth drops open and she barks an incredulous laugh before bursting out, "How dare you?! What reason could I _possibly_ have for allowing you anywhere _near _my babies?" Her voice drops to growl, every word fierce and emphatic as she says, "_Not after what you did_."

"'_What I did_' was done while I was… well, drunk off my rocker. That's what I was _trying _to explain to me when you kicked me out of your house."

"Which you broke into!"

"The door was unlocked – both times, I might add."

Looking him dead in the eye, too angry to be afraid anymore, she orders, "Go. Away. Now!"

He returns her frank gaze, replying simply, "_No_."

She springs to her feet and he comes up with her. Aurora takes a step to move around him, trying to get to her children, but he's determined to keep what little leverage he has. He blocks her off, keeping the lead rope in hand as he pins her against the wall, hand flat against the wall by one side of her neck, hook dangerously close on the other side. She's trapped, and she nearly screams, but she can't – she _cannot _– let him see just how afraid she is.

She sees him hesitate at the move he's made – meaning he knows she's about to fall apart – and it gives her the strength to demand, "Get away from me! You're drunk!"

"No, I'm not!" and he's telling her the truth more than likely, because he looks genuinely confused and his eyes are clear.

"You smell like an alehouse!"

"Well," he shrugs. "That's because I live about one, love."

She opens her mouth, and then closes it, and she's feeling so many things right now that she just… laughs. She needs to release the emotions somehow, and she refuses to cry in front of him, so she laughs. This crazy, infuriating man must be out of his mind if he thinks he deserves to even know anything _about _the twins!

"If you don't let me leave," she says firmly, "I will scream for the sheriff."

"Now, come on, love, don't be like that!"

"Don't call me that! And you're the one trying to take hostages, not me."

"I'm doing nothing of the sort!" he objects incredulously.


	4. Chapter 4

Aurora's not sure where all of her brass is coming from – probably her well of fury towards this man, now that she thinks about it – but it just might be working, and she's grateful for it. She looks pointedly at his arms trapping her against the wall and then raises her eyebrows at the twins, who he's very purposely keeping apart from her.

He sighs, blinking first at her and then sparing a long look at the twins, as he says in a much more humble tone, "Please, I just want to talk to you about this."

"No!" She ducks under his arm and grabs the lead rope, managing to snag it, and makes to run from him again.

He grabs her arm, and even though they both know he's upset at losing his leverage, he doesn't take the rope back, and his grip on her is careful even in its firmness. Even though he's currently failing at it, it occurs to her that he's trying to be gentle despite how much she must be testing his patience.

She takes a deep breath, managing to remain calm as she commands, "Release me, Killian Jones," and miraculously… he does.

Everything about the pirate is the picture of defeat as he takes a step back, but she doesn't have it in her to feel sorry – and why should she?!

"Fine," he mutters. "Go – but know that every time you come back, I'll be here, even if all that means is that I get one glimpse of my kids every so often as you walk away. I'm not all bad, and I won't stop you again, but I _do _love children, and it _will _kill me to be kept apart from my own." He sweeps his arm out towards the edge of the alley, saying almost brokenly – because he is breaking, she realizes suddenly; she's managing to break him just as inadvertently as he broke her – "My sincerest apologies for everything."

Surprised at his sudden actions, Aurora nods, tugs on the mule's lead rope, and goes in the direction he's indicated. She's almost made it into the sunlight outside the alley when he speaks again – a quick, sharp "wait!" like he's forgotten something important – and she freezes in place, awaiting his next words. His tone is pleading – almost pitiful – when he asks, "Can I at least know your names?"

She has an alias, a back story she's made up and tells around town whenever someone inquires after her, the young woman who suddenly, sporadically pops up in town with twins – a widow named Talia who lives in the next village over – and she almost gives him that name. But she doesn't. Because like it or not, this man is the father of her children, and she can divulge at least the little bits of information that he's practically begging her for.

"We're Aurora, Sam, and Selene."

So saying, she stalks away, head held high, without even a backward glance. He has his precious information now, but that's all that he's going to get. He may be part of the reason that she has the twins – the best part of her life now – but that doesn't mean that she owes him a thing, or that she even has to make an attempt at liking him. And she's not going to.

Unfortunately, Aurora's so intent on getting away from him, that she's not quite paying attention to where she's going, and as she makes it back to the main road through town she stumbles head first into an unsuspecting man. They both tumble to the ground, him with a grunt of surprise and her releasing a surprised yelp. He springs back onto his feet in a quick recovery and offers her his hand.

She accepts the assistance with a small smile of thanks as he asks, "Are you alright, Miss…?"

She gives her name for the second time in five minutes, for some reason instantly trusting this handsome man with the kind eyes. "Aurora."

"It's pleasure to meet you, Aurora," he says, his smile growing even softer as he glances behind her and spots the twins. "I'm Philip. I'm just passing through your lovely town, and I seem to be at a bit of a loss as to where I might find a decent meal. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Of course! There's a respectable lodging house down the road that offers food for passersby. I could show you if you like."

She realizes what her proposition sounds like the moment _after _he appears to see that it wasn't meant that way.

And he smiles – a gently encouraging thing, succeeding in places where Killian had minutes ago only been able to attempt… and fail – as he counter offers, "Only if you'd be willing to eat with me."

Aurora finds herself returning his smile.

* * *

Still standing at the edge of the alley, Killian watches her talk to the man that she just met, watches the way she's smiling now, watches her walk off with him. He realizes then that he's not going to win this battle – not going to win over this woman – because he knows what he's seeing happen.

It's a small conciliation that he knows a prince, and a good man, when he sees one. He hears the man give his name, and recognizes that he's heard of this man. Aurora doesn't see a future for herself with any man right now, but Killian watches and sees that she has one – a good one, for her, Sam, and Selene – with this man.

Killian's shoulders drop as he comes to the conclusion that's just going to have to be good enough for him – and once he's relocated his ship and crew, gone back out to sea, and met a woman named Milah, it is enough.

* * *

**See, I warned you it didn't finish the way I'd anticipated, but I think it's kind of growing on me as is... What do you guys think? Reviews would make my day! Thanks for reading!**


End file.
